Mix and Chic

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The One Room Challenge- Week 2!

I can't believe how time flies! It's the second week of The One Room Challenge already. You can read about the first week of The One Room Challenge here.

I am getting more and more nervous now because the hardwood floor installation is not completed yet. It's only 80% done now. If it's not done by next weekend, we can't proceed with these steps and we will have no reveal. Just thinking about the worst makes me shivers! You can read all about our hardwood floor drama here.

Anyway, let's not dwell into the crazy hardwood floor drama anymore and move on to the pretties, shall we? For the makeover of our master bedroom, I already have a furniture layout plan in my head but don't really have a specific color palette in my mind until I stumbled upon this..........

Honestly, I am not a fan of blue before I saw this pillow. I just never find the color blue to be appealing for some reason. (I am weird, I know, don't judge.) But when I saw this pillow at Target for the first time, my heart skipped a little. Because I am not sure if it's a momentarily excitement, I didn't buy this pillow on the spot.

But after a few more trips to Target later, my heart still yearned for the same striped navy pillow. Before I bought them, I needed to know where I will be putting them first. My first thought was the master bedroom. I really liked the idea of injecting some blue in my bedroom since all the other areas in my home is blue-free (I wasn't a blue fan before I saw this pillow, remember?) so I thought it will be a refreshing change. So, yes, the above pillow is the starting point and inspiration for my whole bedroom design!

After getting the pillows, I found this on West Elm.

With my new obsession with all things navy and all things whimsy, I was attracted to this pillow right away. However, like most pillows from West Elm, they are not always cheap. I was not ready to fork out $34 just for the pillow cover and then pay an additional $16 for an insert. So I waited for a sale and fortunately, they had one! I was so thrilled and bought one online!

And one day while doing my regular window shopping at Crate & Barrel, I saw the above mirror. It looked fabulous and as a plus, it was on sale, it was really affordable so I bought two. I thought they would really compliment my new pillows.

Before I know it, my bedroom was heading to a nautical direction. I didn't plan on it but it just happened. I always love the easy breezy feel of a beach home but I have never thought of doing any kind of "beach-inspired decorating" fearing it might look too "theme-ish".

But since I am already headed to this direction, I am planning to add other elements into the bedroom so the overall design doesn't look too expected or contrived.

Anyway, I have bought a few expensive items at West Elm prior so I have earned my first $50 design dollars. With the design dollars, I bought the two items above among other things I picked up that day.

And speaking of West Elm, the curtains I bought from them earlier wasn't the color I wanted so I went hunting for new ones again. After hunting for days, I found the perfect one.

It had the color I wanted and it absolutely fit right into my husband's budget for just $20 per panel. I was about to get other more expensive panels before I found this on clearance! He asked me to order right away before they are gone forever. I ordered them last weekend and they should arrive sometime this week or next week. It's 96" long so I will need to make some adjustments considering I have a 92" tall ceiling on my master bedroom.

I also ordered these gorgeous white cotton canopy bed curtain panels for my four poster bed yesterday. I hope the length is right.

I already had cream colored canopy bed curtains earlier but I am ready to switch to white ones this time with my new all- white bedding. I am so excited I can't wait to decorate this room in the coming weeks!

So, what do you think? Do you like the direction I am heading to? I have a few more accessories I bought during sales last year but you will have to wait till the final reveal on week 6 to see how I bring everything together!

I hope you enjoyed seeing today's sneak peek of all the pieces I plan to incorporate in the coming weeks!

The following are the 20 participants from The One Room Challenge.

Beth - Chinoiserie Chic

Lauren - The Cottage Mix

Sherry - Design Indulgence

Lindsay - Everything LEB

Barbara - Hodge:Podge

Kim - Kim Macumber Interiors

Lisa - Lisa Mende Design

Tiffany - Living Savvy

Jessie - Mix And Chic

Linda - My Crafty Home Life

Alison - My Little Happy Place

Danylle - Nana Moon

Nicole - Nicole Scott Designs

Julia - Pawleys Island Posh

Jennifer - The Pink Pagoda

Bethany - Powell Brower Home

Lindsay - The Pursuit of Style

Emily - Rue de Emily

Lindsay - Sadie + Stella

Lisa - Trapped In North Jersey

I hope you will be following me and the rest of these talented ladies as we transform our spaces!

Happy 4th of July to all my American readers! I know many of you will be out there picnicking, back yard barbecuing or watching the fireworks later today but my husband will be spending his entire day at home installing the remaining hardwood floors. (Poor guy!)

Have a great day, you all!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

A client's living room and dining room project!

I just wrapped up another client's project recently. Remember the online room design giveaway I did during April? I had two winners and one of them is Lilli from Blushing Cheeks.

She asked me if I would consider her living and dining space as one area or if I am going to focus solely on her living room for the design collaboration. I told her that I would normally consider that to be two separate rooms for paying clients but because it is a giveaway for my readers, I volunteered to help her with both spaces.

Lilli's living and dining room area are quite neutral. In her questionnaire, she told me she couldn't paint the walls because it is a rental unit. She is also tired of the country and vintage look. She loves shabby chic but she is bored with the cream. When both rooms are completed, she wants them to feel casual yet elegant, current and with a modern glam vibe.

Here is how her current living room and dining room look like:

She likes greens, pinks, whites, creams, silvers, corals, yellows, turquoises and light blues. Everything can stay or go except for the furniture and crystal barware.

Here are the moodboards I created for her.

The living room. (first draft)

From the pictures of her living room and dining room she sent me, I thought her furniture layout for tv watching is slightly inconvenient so I suggested that she switched both rooms. Her entertainment unit will be relocated along the wall where the door is and her sofa will be placed directly opposite her entertainment unit.

Since she got tired with all the cream but still wanted to keep all her furniture, I suggested that she paints them in turquoise, her favorite color, then distress them to achieve the shabby chic look she is after. She is a fan of chevron rugs so I picked a stylish gray and white zig zag rug for both her rooms.

I selected a silver sequined pillow for her sofa and an inexpensive starburst mirror above the fireplace mantel to give her that little bit of glam she is looking for. Since painting the wall is not an option, I try to incorporate more colors in the accessories to break up all the neutrals. I picked a fresh color palette that also comprises all her favorite colors to keep the rooms looking modern and updated.

The dining room. (first draft)

After switching both rooms, the dining room will now have a fireplace. I suggested that she uses a beautiful green geometric pattern fabric as the table cloth to introduce more colors in her dining area.

I also sent her a few fabric options for the dining chair seat because she intended to reupholster her dining room chairs for a fresh new look. She loves pink and animal stripe motifs so in the end, that is what she picked.

In her inspirational pictures, she showed me a lot of colorful rooms with high end crystal chandeliers so I knew I needed to get her a crystal chandelier for the wow factor. After browsing online for a while, I found a website with many inexpensive real crystal chandeliers. I gave her a long list of my favorites and in the end, she picked this.

Isn't this chandelier gorgeous? It is elegant, glamorous and surprisingly budget-friendly which costs less than $200.

Console table vignette in the dining room . (first draft)

After switching both rooms, her new dining area will be quite bare so I suggested that she relocates her console table to the wall where she puts her sofa now to create a new vignette. That way, she can still display her barware on the console table and at the same time, add some visual interest on the blank wall without spending a lot.

I sent her the moodboards after they are completed and I was thrilled when she told me she loved it. She also showed her friends the moodboards. All her female friends love it except her husband. Apparently, he is not a fan of feminine colors and bold patterns. So, I asked her to get her husband's input and suggested that he picked a few inspiration pictures for me. In order to make any necessary changes, I needed to know what he likes.

In the inspirational pictures that he sent me, the images has bright and cheery colors with minimal patterns and a little bit of gray. I made a few changes to my original moodboards but still kept some of the elements that Lilli was after.

Here are my revised moodboards:

The living room. (final draft)

The second time around, she told me she wanted to repaint all her furniture in white and ditch the shabby chic look so I picked all white furniture in my moodboard to show her how everything would work with all the new changes.

The dining room. (final draft)

She said she wanted to repaint the table so we took the table cloth idea off the moodboard. I picked a nice yellow geometric fabric for the dining chairs to replace the pink striped fabric.

What do you think of both moodboards? Which versions do you prefer? The first version or the revised version?

Personally, I like the first version more because you know me, I am a big fan of colors and patterns. I also love the pillow combinations as well.

During this design collaboration, I have discovered a new color scheme that I loved! The hot pink, bright turquoise and green color combo is youthful, fun and fresh at the same time and I hope to incorporate this color palette when I get a chance in the future.

I am looking forward to see Lilli's living and dining room makeover. I am sure you are excited to see the final outcome of our design collaboration as well. I promise to share any updates and progress on Lilli's home as soon as I can so stay tuned and check back regularly!

If you need help decorating your home, please click here for further information regarding my design services.

And the winner of the giveaway is ..........

It's time to announce the winner of the recent giveaway brought to you by Finishing Touch Interiors: The Boutique.

I used random.org to draw a winner and here it is. The lucky winner of the £25 pounds gift certificate provided by Finishing Touch Interiors: The Boutique is

Jasmine from Nothing Too Fancy.

Congratulations, Jasmine! I will send you an email shortly. Thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway. There will be more wonderful giveaways in the near future. So, stop by from time to time.

Thanks to everyone for the lovely and supportive comments on my One Room Challenge post yesterday. You are all very kind.

Have a great day, everyone!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The One Room Challenge- Week 1!

I was so excited when Linda from My Crafty Home Life invited me to participate in The One Room Challenge. Now you might be wondering, what is The One Room Challenge all about?

The One Room Challenge involves 20 participants from DIY bloggers to designer bloggers who will have just 6 weeks to makeover a room. For six weeks, we will all be posting progress or updates on our rooms every Wednesday.

Click here to view all six weeks of The One Room Challenge!

Week 5

Week 6

Honestly, none of the rooms in our house is decorated at all except for our living room which is about 80% completed. I immediately knew that I wanted to tackle our master bedroom. Currently, we are still sleeping in the guest bedroom and it has been very inconvenient with no attached master bath and a working closet.

We already started our master bedroom project last year. I remembered painting our master bedroom during the Mother's Day weekend because I remembered casually saying this to my husband, "Oh, and that's how we celebrate Mother's Day, right? By painting our room?"

Anyway, a little background about our home. We bought an older home about 2 years ago and there were a lot of things to fix in the house so decorating took a backseat. I don't want to bore you with the details and I am sure those of your with older homes can relate, yes?

Our master bedroom is a nice size room with a small, attached bathroom. Looking at the room, we knew that one of the previous owners must have knocked down a wall and joined the two rooms together to convert it into a master suite. The tell tale sign is the obvious support beam in the middle of the room.

I would love to show you the before picture of our master bedroom but unfortunately, we don't have any. To give you an idea, the room was painted in a salmon color with a bright red focal wall. It doesn't work for us at all.

Like all areas of our home, we will be doing it on a small budget. We will be keeping our set of bedroom furniture in a dark cherry finish that we already had for six years. To freshen up the room, I am planning to add some new accessories and new bedding.

Here is a snippet of our master bedroom.

Do you noticed the missing baseboards and the unfinished wood floor installation?

We have already painted the room in a light gray color last year while my husband is currently working on the hard wood floors. I think we must have shopped for wood floors for at least six weeks before we decided on this one. It took us a while to reach a compromise, to make a long story short. You know how that goes..... I wanted to get something nice that's more expensive but he wanted to get something on a budget.

Speaking of wood floors, my husband has been working so hard on the installation since early February this year during every weekends but up until now, it's still not completed yet. We realized we have been moving at a snail's pace.

And the reason why? He chose to install the wood floors using the more time-consuming nail-down method instead of the more popular staple-down method. And unfortunately one day, while using the mallet, he accidentally smashed his own finger. He bled quite profusely. Fortunately, his injury was not serious with no broken bones or anything. With an injured finger, he took a break. Then, a few months later, he got sick and took another break.

Did I mention what my husband do in between installing the wood floors and taking breaks?

He sorted the wood planks. According to him, he needed to find planks that are not slanted so the wood floors will be all lined up perfectly. He even used the spirit level and made remarks on each planks to determine which plank is good or bad. I don't realize my husband is such a perfectionist until now. And I thought I am the only one all along! You always learn something new about your spouse, yes?

So now you understand why our wood floor installation took that long to complete and besides, it's the size of two medium rooms. The hardwood floors is almost 75% completed now and we still have another 25% more to go!

The pressure is on because the makeover of our master bedroom will depend greatly on the completion of the wood floor installation! Let's hope my husband can get the floors done by week 2 or at least by week 3 so we can have a reveal by week 6! Keeping my fingers crossed!

My plans for the coming weeks will include:

1. Finishing the hardwood floor installation.

2. Reattaching the baseboards to the drywall.

3. Touching up the paint color.

4. Sewing/ buying the curtain panels.

5. Hanging the curtains.

6. Assembling our four poster bed and rearranging the furniture.

7. Buying accessories for the room.

I have more plans in my mind for our master bedroom but if we managed to complete everything on this list in just six weeks, I will be thrilled.

For the window treatment in our room, I am thinking about getting my own fabrics and sewing them by hand (I do not know how to use the sewing machine) or getting ready-made curtains. I will need a total of 8 panels.

In the end, I bought these West Elm curtains when I saw them on sale thinking these might save me a bit of time. I know that I will still need to take a few inches off the curtains because they are 124" long and my bedroom's ceiling height is just 92".

Anyway, after I received them, I was more disappointed than excited because the color is all wrong. I wanted a dark gray color. What color does it look like to you? It looks like gray, right? In reality, it is more of a medium taupe, like this. It's a nice color but it's not the look I am going for!

I am so bummed because I know I couldn't send it back since it's on sale. So, if you are interested in a few panels of brand new 124" long, unlined thick cotton taupe curtains in great quality, please let me know. I am selling these for just $35 per panel plus shipping. These originally retail for $50 or more per panel. Couldn't remember the exact price. Please email me at mixandchic(at)yahoo(dot)com if you have any questions. Anyone who is interested to get all 8 panels or willing to do a local pick-up will have first priority.

Now, I am not sure if I want to look online for ready made curtains or make them myself. Decisions, decisions. Follow me and my crazy decorating journey and you will find out soon! I hope I didn't bore you with the lengthy introduction of my bedroom just now. :)

Next week, I will show you the first item that inspired the color scheme of our bedroom.